Friday, July 19, 2013

Rethinking Homework - Cathy Vatterott

Part of my rethinking the way 
I do certain things in my classroom
is also to take a look at homework.

During my winter courses, 
I wrote a paper on homework.
I came across an excerpt from
this book
that went through 
the history of homework.
How homework came about
and the never ending debate 
on whether or not
homework benefits children.

There are many books and articles
written on the subject.
There's a lot of research.
And depending on your point-of-view
research will support it.
Research exists for homework
and against.
And Cathy Vatterott
presents them both.

What she does in her book
is relook at why we give homework.
She asks us to rethink why students
don't do it.
She offers way to give homework
if you must,
but asks that you rethink
your methods.

I know a lot of people
see this book as an anti homework book.
And keeping my personal feelings and beliefs aside,
I admire how she presented both cases
and looked at the needs of students.
Not the needs of parents and teachers. 

1 comment:

Susan Anderson said...

I'm on the fence about the homework question. Maybe I would like this book!

=)